Joe Dallas switched teams. He favored one side, and after a long internal struggle decided to switch teams and argue against those whom he once stood with. He did this twice. Moving once from fundamentalism to homosexuality, and then back again. But The Gay Gospel? is about more than just one man’s journey. It’s about dismantling “Pro-Gay theology”. Fundamentally, Dallas argues that homosexual theology is not built from the Scriptures, but from personal proclivity.
Dallas is certainly capable of speaking to this issue. As a former homosexual and advocate of Pro-Gay theology, he understands the position well. Here he seeks to unpack that theology, its assumptions, foundations, and approaches, for the church as a whole. The book is broken down into four parts: A Basis for Understanding, Beliefs and Ideologies, Issues with the Bible, and Putting Knowledge into Action.
He begins in part one with an apology for the book, arguing that this kind of work is necessary because of the danger that gay theology poses. Then he walks us through the origins and development of the “Gay Christian” movement. He touches, of course, on homosexuality in general, but he is more specifically interested in the particular camp he came from: Gay Christian. Part two unpacks the particular beliefs of Gay theology. Here Dallas does his best work, identifying the specific arguments Gay Christians give for urging the Christian community to accept their beliefs. He lists arguments from nature, arguments from social issues, and religious arguments. In each case he responds Biblically to their development. Part three in particular turns to the Bible, and this is where, Dallas argues, as Christians we ought to spend the majority of our engagement.
Since both sides consider themselves Christians, he says, then the majority of our focus ought to be on what the Scriptures say. He argues that Gay Christians must shift the conversation from “is it okay with me” to “does the Bible approve.” He writes:
Since those arguments are more religious in approach than the social arguments, they can be answered almost exclusively in biblical terms. Remembering that members of the gay Christian movement say they believe in biblical authority, the best answers are a call to return to the objective truth of the Bible instead of relying on the subjective winds of human experience and understanding. (147)
So it is on the Bible that Dallas really wants to focus and part three delves into specifically a discussion revolving Scripture’s use and specific passages that address homosexuality.
In part three Dallas tackles what Genesis, Leviticus, Jesus, and Paul say about homosexuality. In each case, Dallas presents the traditional interpretation, then what he calls the homosexual “revision” of the passage, and a response. It is his contention that the pro-gay advocates who reinterpret the passages are deceived by their own desires and are therefore manipulating and twisting the Scriptures to fit their agenda. Writing of more liberal Christian tendencies to undermine the authority and sufficiency of Scripture Dallas adds:
I found this to be true in the gay Christian movement as well. We had too deep a respect for the Bible to ignore it. But in my opinion, we weren’t willing to obey it either. So revising it was the next best thing. The pro-gay theology’s scriptural arguments are, therefore, basic revisions of the biblical texts traditionally understood to forbid homosexuality. (160)
Dallas answers the common criticisms he leveled as a homosexual pastor. He addresses the view that the Bible didn’t know anything about sexual orientation. He answers the critique that the so-called “clobber passages” that address homosexuality are really more about rape or heterosexual’s giving themselves over to homosexual activity. He highlights how Gay Christians misread and misunderstand the specific passages in question. And he is skilled in doing so.
In the final part Dallas wants to engage his readers to move beyond the page to appropriate interaction. All throughout the book he is trying to teach his readers how to have healthy interactions with Gay Christians. He provides mock dialogues at the end of chapters to help his readers think through how to answer common criticisms. And perhaps most interesting, he offers some criticisms himself of the ways in which the Christian community has failed the Gay community. That’s an important part of this book you don’t want to miss. As a former homosexual, Dallas understand the emotional pain that some Christians and some churches can cause. He reminds us all of the importance of love and compassion even while we hold tightly to the truth.
I found this book very useful. Dallas has definitely become an apologist for Orthodox theology as it relates to homosexuality. He knows how to articulate his views well and defend his position against those which he once held. He focuses specifically on Scripture, and argues that we all should. Since the book is particularly zeroed in against Gay Christians, and since they have focused their efforts on Scripture, we should not be drawn into discussions about experience and emotion, but stick to the topic of what God’s Word actually says. “This is where the discussion should focus – on ethics, not experience” (149). And Dallas helps equip us to do just that. Some will obviously disagree with the book, finding it offensive or distatesful. Some will disagree at the very notion of a “former homosexual.” I will leave it to Dallas to defend himself, but while the book is hard on the truth, Dallas clearly has a love for homosexuals and seeks only to lead them to the truth.
The book is written at a popular level so it’s very easy to understand and that makes it incredibly useful to the church as a whole. Robert Gagnon’s massive work The Bible and Homosexual Practice is much more academic and thorough than Dallas’ monograph, but it may end up being less practical in the long run. Of course, the fact that Dallas writes as a former insider gives real credibility and appeal to this work. For those either struggling with their sexuality (like Dallas has), or for those seeking to help, counsel, or lead homosexuals in the faith, The Gay Gospel? is a great resource and a must read.
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